The Middle East is Changing, and Ankara Knows It
by Ramzy Baroud
"Even despots, gangsters and pirates have specific sensitiveness, (and) follow some specific morals."
The claim was made by Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan in a recent speech, following the deadly commando raid on the humanitarian aid flotilla to
The statement alone indicates the momentous political shift that’s currently underway in the
Countless analyses have emerged in the wake of the long-planned and calculated Israeli attack on the Turkish ship, Mavi Marmara, which claimed the lives of nine, mostly Turkish peace activists.
In “
In this week’s Zaman, a Turkish publication, Bulent Kenes wrote: “As a result of the Davos (where the Turkish prime minister stormed out of a televised discussion with Israeli President Shimon Peres, after accusing him and Israel of murder), the myth that Israel is untouchable was destroyed by Erdogan, and because of that Israel nurses a hatred for Turkey.”
In fact, the Davos incident is significant not because it demonstrates that
Writing in the Financial Times under the title, “Erdogan turns to face East in a delicate balancing act,” David Gardner places
In 1996, Israeli leaders appeared very confident. A group of neoconservative American politicians had laid out a road map for
Frustrated by the American failure to reshape the region and unquestioningly eliminate anything and everything that
There are many issues the Israeli leadership has had to wrangle with in recent years. The
With options growing even more limited, Israel now understands that Gaza is its last card; ending the siege or ceasing the killings could be understood as another indication of political weakness, a risk that Israel is not ready to take.
But that is where many analysts went wrong.
The uninvited Turkish involvement, however, is highly irritating to
By participating at such a high capacity in the Gaza Freedom Flotilla, with firm intentions of breaking the siege,
The Israeli response, as bloody as it was, can only be understood within this larger context. Erdogan’s statements and the popular support his government enjoys show that Turkey has decided to take on the Israeli challenge. The US government was exposed as ineffectual and hostage to the failing Israeli agenda in the region, thanks to the lobby. Ironically it is now the neoconservatives who are leading the charge against Turkey, the very country they had hoped would become Israel’s willing ally in its apocalyptic vision.
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